Ornamental object



April 10, i 928.

E. B. WILSON ORNAMENTAL OBJECT Filed March 11. 1927 2 Sheets-Shea l A ril 10, 1928.

E. B. WILSON ORNAMENTAL OBJECT Filed March 11. 1927 2 Sheets-$heet 2.

Patented Apr. 10, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT err-ICE.

ORNAMENTAL OBJECT.

, Application filed March 11, 1827. Serial No. 174,516.

whereby the ornaments can be readily dis assembled so as to occupy a very small space, for packaging, storage or shipment.

ornaments of relatively thinsheets of material out to conform to the profile of the article which the ornament is to represent, and rovided with notches therein. The assembly of the ornament is acomplished by fitting, to ether the thin sheets and interlocking them in the general manner dlsclosed in my copending application Serial No. 25,992, filed on April 27, 1925 whereby a substantially rlgid, self-supportlng unit is obtained;

In the drawings, Fig. 1 illustrates in sectional elevation an ornamental Christmas tree constructed in accordance with my invention.

lines 22 of Fig. 1.

Figs. 3, 4 and 5 are views of the elements making up the tree shown in Fig. 1.

construction shown in Fig. '1.

Figs. 7 and 8 illustrate elements for forming ornaments.

Figs. 9 and 10 illustrate a modification of the device shown in Figs. 4 and 5 as applied to an ornament. 4

In Fig. 1 is represented a. Christmas tree 1, set in a receptacle 2.. 'Thistree is made up of three flat sheets of maternal 6, 7 and 8- (Fig. 3) cut to correspond to a profile view-of the tree and receptacle to be represented, as shown at 10 and 14 respectively. These sheets or profile members, areprovided with slits 11, 12, 15, 16 and with The whole tree is assembled by interlocking the several sheets by means of slits 11, 12, 15 and 16. This is accomplls'hed, for example, by placing sheets 6 and 7 end I attain these objects by. constructing the Fig. 2 is a view in section taken along Fig. 6 illustrates a modification of the a cut out portion 13 in the receptacle 14:.

to end, with their planes at right angles and with the open ends of slits 12 and 15 coinciding, then sliding the two sheets together so that they interlock and occupy the same length. Sheet 8 is then interlocked with 6 and 7 in the same manner, the free ends of slits 11 and 13 being placed together and the sheet 8 slid down upon 6 and 7 so that all occupy the same length.

The three members 6, 7 and 8 are then adjusted angularly so that angles between the sheets will all be equal, as shown in 2. In order properly to secure the sheets against relative angular displacement, I provide a spacing member 3 which is divided, for a portion of its length, into six elements, 9 (Figs. 4 and 5). One end of the member is not so divided but has a solid section 4 which serves to retain the members 9 quite rigidly in their proper relative positions. The member 3 is slid up onto the interlocked sheets 6, 7 and 8, with the six sections of the member occupying the six corresponding angular spaces between the sheets as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.- The solid section 4 fits within out out sections 13 of the sheets and therefore the member occupies the same length as the sheets. The mom or 3 thus secures the sheets against angular rotation. If the tree is made relatively tall, it may be found advisable to provide some bindin wires or clips 5 to prevent'spreading of the elements 9 of member 3. The wires or clips would be passed around the member 3, through the sheets 6, 7 and 8, or not, according to the shape of the sheets at the point of the banding, and secured tightly so as to force the elements 9 into close relation with the sheets and each other. In this figure, the size of the member 3 relative to the size of the rest of the tree is exaggerated for the sake of clearness. In a regular tree, the member 3 would be of the same size as the trunk of the tree to be represented. Fig. 6 shows a modification of the invention wherein the sheets are interlocked in exactly the same way as in Fig.1 but are held against angular displacement by means of a small slottedbutton 17 which fits Withinthe cut out sections 13 of the sheets, which are exactly similar in general construction to those shown in Figs. 6, 7 and 8. The button 17 which is similar to memher 3 except that theelements 9 are much shorterin relation to the solid section 4, serves to hold the whole assembly in its proper shape.

Instead of a solid button such as 17, a

piece of slotted sheet material such as shown 1n Fig. 9, element 22, might be used to encircle the sheets 23, 24 and 25 at the base and thus hold them in proper position. Element 22 might also be made annular 1n form, and if so the sheets 23, 24 and 25 could be made of flexible material and provided with notches in their edges. In that case, the whole would be assembled by putting the sheets together and flexing them slightly so that they would slide inside the annular member. The annular member would then be positioned in the notches in the sheets and thereby be held firmly in position relative to the sheets.

While I have illustrated ornaments constructed from three sheets it will be apparent that any number of sheets desirable may be interlocked in the manner above illustrated as it is necessary merely properly to proportion the slits 11, 15 etc. so that they fit together. This is best illustrated in Figs. 7 and 8. p i Fig. 7 illustrates the proper slits to make to fit together two sheets, while Fig. 8 illustrates the proper cuts to make to fit together four sheets. In the last mentioned figure, looking at the drawing when held in a vertical position the four sheets fit together successively from right to left, that is, 19 slides together with 18 from top to bottom, 20 then slides together with the first two, from top to bottom, and lastly 21 slides together with this first three from bottom to top.

5 be ma e to present a very pretty and natural effect. For example, I have represented snow as resting upon the branches of the tree shown in Fig. 1. I have found also that in cutting out the various sheets for making up an ornament such as shown in Fig. 1 that a more natural effect can be secured by making the profile of the cut out sheets differ from each other slightly whereby the branches will not present too great a regularity in their positions on the tree. A more realistic effect is obtained by so cutting out the sheets that when they are superim posed on each other, there will be a minimum of open spaces passing directly thru the three superimposed sheets. This gives the finished tree a solid effect not to be expected from an object made merely of thin sheets of material.

These ornaments may be made of any ma terial desired, such as cardboard, fibre board, sheet metal orthe like. The spacing member may be made of wood or other material.

Objects constructed in accordance with my invention are very easy to assemble and roper decoration the ornaments can take apart, and when taken apart may be packed in a very small space. If the objects are large, and have to be transported, such as theatrical properties, the features of ease of assembly and smallness of space occupied in a disassembled condition, are of great importance. Likewise, small ornaments might be soldin a disassembled con-- dition in envelopes or small packages.

While I have shown for the purpose of illustration, a specific embodiment of my invention, it will be apparent that variations may be made in the particular construction and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

What I- claim is:

1. A collapsible ornamental device comprising a plurality of sheets .of relatively thin material cut to conform to the profile of object to be represented, a slit in each of the sheets by means of which all of said sheets are mutually interlocked and a member having a plurality of slits therein, said member engaging said sheets by means of the slits in the member, thereby securing said sheets against relative angular displacement.

2. An ornamental ob ect comprising a plurality of mutually interlocked sheets of material cut to conform to the outline ofthe object that it is desired to represent, and means consisting of a block of solid material having slots therein for preventing relative displacement of the said sheets.

3. An artificial Christmas tree comprising a plurality of sheets of relatively thin material fashioned to conform to the outline of a Christmas tree and slits in the said sheets whereby all of said sheets are mutally interlocked.

4. As a new article'of manufacture, the combination of a (plurality of surfaces each having a longitu inal sl t and having its edges cut to correspond to the rofile section of a tree like structure, means or removably supporting and holding said surfaces, said last mentioned means cooperating with said surfaces to lock said surfaces in position.

5. An artificial Christmas tree comprisinga plurality of sheets of thin material cut to conform to the rofile of a Christmas tree, a slit in each of the sheets by means of which all of said sheets are mutuall interlocked, and means coact-ing with sai sheets for preventing relative angular displacement thereof.

6. An artificial Christmas tree comprising a plurality of flat members out to conform to the out ine of an evergreen tree and provided with means whereby the members may be mutually interlocked, and means for preventing an ular displacement of the said members re ative to one another. 1

7. A new article of manufacture comprising a plurality of sheets 'of material, each "Christmas tree comprising a unitary tree profile members aving slits of said sheets having its edges fashioned to correspond to a difli'erent outline of a tree, and means for interlocking said sheets with surfaces at an angle to one another,-whereby ana xmearance of reality is obtained. 8. s a new article of manufacture, a lurality of EDWIN BIRD WILSON. 

